Second Chances
by magentafeelings92
Summary: Set after the events of Second Evolution. When Roddick receives a surprise visit from Ilia, he is forced to look back on his actions. Hinted Roddick/Ilia.


**Second Chances**

_I wrote this after seeing the nonexistant amount of First Departure fic on here. Where's the love, people? Oh, and this is based off the Roddick/Ilia ending that you get in the game ;)_

Roddick sensed that something was different that day during his journey to Mt. Metorx. It wasn't something obvious- the sun shone over the rocky path in the same golden glow, Kraat itself had bustled with the normal everyday life of the villagers. It wasn't enough however, to undo the unsteady knot in his stomach. Perhaps that was partly why he had volunteered so determinedly to go the mountain to pick some herbs for Millie.

Millie's son had come down with some kind of fever. Luckily, it didn't seem serious as he didn't show any of the Lezonian viral symptoms, and he wasn't turning to stone any time soon, but Millie was still concerned. So Roddick had decided to go to the mountain himself to pick the required herbs.

As he walked the mountain path, the strange knotted feeling continued to develop in his stomach- the feeling of anticipation, and fear. He didn't know why, but he realised he felt the same way twenty years ago- an emotion that had marked the beginning of his journey. Roddick brushed it off- it was just the memories stirring bittersweet feelings of nostalgia.

Once he reached the peak of the mountain, he wearily leaned against a jagged rock to catch his breath. He was getting older, he was reluctant to acknowledge. Being forty-two had its disadvantages, a fact he did not want to consider, but nevertheless true. He wiped the beads of sweat from his brow and sighed. _Why did being old have to drag you down so much? _he thought bitterly. He rose up reluctantly and fell backwards in shock as a beam of blue light blasted in front of him. The shock was quickly replaced by excitement when he realised- Ronyx and Ilia were coming back!

His blue eyes widened at the flickering image of Ilia appearing before him. Before he could register her, she stepped out of the beam, a smile curving the corners of her mouth. Roddick stared. She barely looked any older than her last visit, save for the lines underneath her eyes. His mouth went dry as he tried to speak something coherent, which made her laugh.

"I'm sorry. I did promise that I would give you some warning the next time we saw each other...but what fun is that?"

Roddick gaped like a fish out of water, which only made Ilia fall into deeper bouts of laughter. "Hey, don't laugh!" Roddick exclaimed, turning a tinge of red. "What are the chances you would come here, of all days? I'm surprised you didn't kill me out of shock."

Ilia wiped a tear from her eye, gasping for breath. "S-Sorry, Roddick. One would think you're not happy to see me, though." She raised an eyebrow challengingly.

Roddick shook his head violently. "No, that's not it...but the warning really would've been nice."

Ilia sighed. "Hmm...okay. Hey Roddick, it's me, Ilia! I'm coming for a visit today. Okay with you?" She asked, cocking her head mischievously. She outstretched a gloved hand when Roddick became aware that he was still sitting on the ground.

"Okay, okay. Enough with the sarcasm." Roddick groaned, rolling his eyes. He clasped his hand around hers as she pulled him up effortlessly. He leaned against the rock, his eyes drinking in Ilia's stature. "So what took you so long to visit anyway? Does twenty years go that quick in space or something?"

Ilia tucked some blonde hair behind her ear distractedly. "It's been...pretty busy." She looked at Roddick questionably. "But I want to know what you've been doing all this time!"

As they picked the herbs off the mountain, Roddick told her everything- the adventures he went on, the people he'd seen- one person he reckoned was a descendent of Cyuss- "He looked so similar to him, with the same attitude and everything!"

Ilia constantly fired him with questions, and listened intently to Roddick's answers, her honey-coloured eyes lighting up whenever she heard anything that piqued her interest. She was shocked into silence when Roddick told her about Millie.

"You mean...you and her...?"

"No. That's what I kept trying to tell you before, but you wouldn't listen. Me and Millie are friends, that's it."

"But you just said you were picking herbs for her son. So who...?"

"Dorne. It's always been Dorne, you know. They're married with two kids."

Ilia looked perplexed. "Then...you?"

Roddick nodded. "Still a bachelor. Which isn't such a bad thing...but it can get pretty lonely sometimes. Although I still have Millie and Dorne around."

Ilia was quiet for a while. Roddick stared. "Ilia?"

"Yeah?"

"How come Ronyx isn't with you?"

Ilia stared into space, which made Roddick frown. "Ilia?"

"He's dead."

It felt like the wind was knocked out of him, as he felt his head painfully process the notion. "No..."

"He was shot down six months ago, in space. It was these...monsters, the Ten Wise Men. They were worse than the superhuman we encountered on Lezonia. They...killed him in cold blood."

"Ilia..." He asked desperately, his head now throbbing with the image of Ronyx's dead body. "Why didn't you tell us before? We could've...we..."

"You couldn't have done anything. No one could." Ilia said firmly. "Besides, I was mourning the death of my husband. So I'm sorry if coming here wasn't my first priority."

The acidity in Ilia's voice stung Roddick as he looked away from her. "You're right. I was tactless. Sorry." He walked down the mountain path, fighting the bitter feeling in his gut. Ronyx was gone. He never got to see Roak again after he promised he would. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see it was a saddened Ilia.

"I'm sorry Roddick. I wasn't being fair. You and Millie were his friends. I shouldn't have kept you in the dark. It's just..." They stopped walking as Ilia met Roddick's depressed eyes. "I wasn't ready to talk about it. Not for a long time. Telling people...would make it real. And I didn't want to believe that."

Silence passed between them, as they quietly forgave each other for what was said. He was dead, they both knew that. Ronyx wouldn't have wanted conflict to come out of his death, that was a certainty. So they began to walk side-by-side through the mountain, occasionally decimating any foes that stood in their path. It was a while until Ilia spoke. "It was Claude that defeated them, you know. The Ten Wise Men."

Roddick raised an eyebrow. "Claude?"

Ilia gasped. "I didn't tell you?! Me and Ronyx, we...we have a son, Claude. He's nineteen."

Roddick gaped. "Nineteen?"

Ilia nodded proudly. "Yeah. He took on the Wise Men effortlessly. I was so proud."

Roddick exhaled. "Wow. Hope I can meet him sometime."

Ilia smiled secretly. "You'll cross paths one day. Oh!" She stopped, a glint returning to her eyes. "I forgot to mention! I'm gonna be a grandmother soon, you know."

Roddick's eyes widened. "Wha...? You..."

Ilia laughed. "I know! God, I feel so old."

Roddick shook his head. Ilia had so much going on in her life, and what had he done? _Nothing worth mentioning, that's for sure_. Ilia noticed his troubled expression and frowned. "Hey, Roddick. You okay?"

He sighed. "It's just...do you have regrets, Ilia?"

Ilia nodded. "Sure..." she mumbled quietly.

"Well, I was thinking. If I did things differently in my life, then maybe...I could have _done _something great, you know?"

"What do you want to do about it? Go back to Planet Styx? Turn back time?" she retorted, folding her arms. "We can't retract our actions. They're etched in time now, forever."

"I wasn't suggesting that..." Roddick protested. "I was just..."

"Wallowing in self-pity?"

"...yeah." This prompted Roddick to let out a small chuckle. "I'm being pretty stupid, aren't I?"

"Uh-huh. But..." Ilia stepped closer to him. "I know how you feel. I often think maybe I made the wrong choices in life." She brushed her fringe out of her eyes. "Do you remember what I told you on Styx?"

Roddick blanked. "Uh..."

Ilia let out a tired sigh. "Clueless, as always. I told you..." She lowered her voice to such an intensity that it was hard for him to hear. "I told you that if I was born on Roak, like you, then things might have been different. I was wrong." She said this last part more fiercely. "It would have been no different. I'm not a woman of faith, but I do believe that some things are just supposed to happen. No matter the circumstance, our paths would have run the same course. I mean, some things we're allowed to regret. I regret arguing with Ronyx the morning before he left orbit and died. I regret not being honest with you all those years ago. Heck, I regret a lot of things, but I know that those situations were just out of my control."

She paused to gauge his reaction, and frowned at his downhearted expression. She placed two gloved hands onto his shoulder plates to give him a gentle shake. "Think of all the adventures you've been on! You must have seen things I'm sure not many Fellpools or even humans have dared to experience! Don't tell me you regret that."

Roddick let out a small smile and scratched his head. Ilia patted him on the back. "See? You don't. All it would have taken was some life changing decision, and you would never have had those memories. If I didn't walk the path I did, I might never have had Claude. Not having him would have been my biggest regret of all."

"You're right..."Roddick said lowly. "Guess that's my cue to stop wallowing."

Ilia smiled. "Yep. Wow, my throat's all dry."

"It must have been a while since your last motivational talk, huh?"

This prompted an elbow to Roddick's ribs. "Ow!" He yelped. "Sorry, sorry!"

Ilia tossed her head away from him. "I was being serious!"

"I know." Roddick turned his face away from hers and grinned. "Home sweet home," he whispered at the village ahead.

"It's been awhile." Ilia spoke lowly. Roddick agreed, a nagging feeling tugging on his mind. "Ilia?"

"Yeah?"

"After this surprise visit...you're going back, aren't you?" Roddick closed his eyes, trying not to flinch to Ilia's inevitable 'yes'.

"Roddick."

Roddick opened an eye to see Ilia standing directly in front of him, her golden eyes piercing into his. "I came back because...I missed you. You and Millie...this place." She gestured to the surrounding trees and the water under the bridge in which they now stood. "I was always so busy...work, being a mother, holding my family together. There was never a moment to come back here. I hated it."

Now it was Roddick's turn to comfort her. "Ilia...it's okay. Me and Millie...we figured as much. We never blamed you or Ronyx."

"I...I know. But...gosh, twenty years? Why did I let time slip away like that?" She mused, leaning against the side of the stone bridge. "Every time I thought to go back to Roak, something else came up." She mumbled in frustration.

"Ilia...you didn't answer my question."

Ilia's face snapped back to attention. "Oh! Oh...yeah. I have my job and Claude and a future grandchild to go back to, after all." She registered his saddened response and her eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey!"

Roddick staggered back at her enthusiasm. "What...?"

"I'll take you to space!"

Roddick stared. "Uh...Ilia?"

"It's okay!" Ilia waved her hands absentmindedly. "I can get 'special' permission to beam you up and get a free spacecraft, no problem. It's been twenty years. Come on Roddick. It'll be fun."

Roddick raised a hand in defeat. "Okay, I guess", he said coolly, thinly disguising his bubbling excitement. He had loved being in space before, and he was sure that the next experience would be just as captivating.

Just then, a glint caught Roddick's gaze. "Hey!" He exclaimed, staring at Ilia's face.

Ilia blinked. "What? Something on my face?"

"Well, more like on your ears."

Ilia vaguely touched her earlobes and realisation spread across her face. "Oh!"

"The earrings I bought you in Roak all those years ago. You still have them?!"

Ilia nodded. "Yeah. They're ancient relics. Three hundred and twenty years old..."

"Wow...hey, why didn't you sell them? They must fetch loads of Fol..."

Ilia scowled. "Roddick! I can't just sell a gift like that. Besides..." She winked at him mischievously. "They're worth nothing on any of the Earth markets. I checked."

"Hey!" Roddick whined as Ilia giggled. She began to sprint ahead of him, motioning him to go faster. "Come on, lets go already! I need some girl time with Millie."

"Hey, wait up!" Roddick huffed as Ilia sped ahead of him through the village. "One more thing! Tell me one more thing!"

Ilia paused. "What?"

"What did you mean, you regretted not being honest with more before? About what?"

Ilia let out a withdrawn sigh. "Clueless. Absolutely clueless." She touched his arm gently. "I regretted not telling you about..."

"Ilia?!"

Ilia paused in shock. They both spun round to see a pink blur hurtling towards them.

"Millie!" Ilia shouted, waving an arm in the air. Roddick grinned at the excited figure up ahead.

"Let's continue this conversation later, okay Roddick?" Ilia turned to him, a secretive smile curving her lips.

"Sure." Roddick agreed. "I think...I think I have some things to say, too."

Ilia raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"No more regrets, right?"

Ilia nodded confidently. "Yea-Ahh!" She was promptly pulled into a tight hug by a flushed Millie. Roddick laughed at Ilia's pained expression. Over Millie's shoulder, Ilia met Roddick's eyes and she mouthed "No regrets."

No-one could go back in time to take back past mistakes, but it was never too late to fix them.


End file.
